First, for whatever reason, there are chickens everywhere in Kaua'i, the beautiful little garden isle west of Oahu.

Chickens in parking lots, chickens on the golf course, chickens in the mountains and forests, roosters waking you up far too early at your resort. Chickens there are like sparrows here. The only place you don't often see chicken, oddly enough, is on menus, which is fine because you see so many chickens running around you lose your taste for them.

I asked around, and no one had a satisfactory explanation as to why chickens have gone native there, but I'll assume it's a lifestyle choice. Maybe they like the weather in the islands as much as humans.

Speaking of which, the second thing I couldn't help noticing is that Hawaii has this thing they like to call "sunshine."

Since we here in cloudy Michigan aren't familiar with the concept, let me explain: Sunshine is this ray that emanates from something called the "sun," which is apparently this big red ball that lives in the sky somewhere. These rays, I learned, contain light, warmth and the tendency to make the human spirit rise. I recommend we adopt this idea immediately.

Lastly, there was this about Hawaii: people are much more laid-back. Things are done on "Hawaii time," meaning folks get around to them sooner or later. Or not. Depends. And while that seems horribly inefficient by rush-rush mainland standards, after you experience it
for awhile, you slow down yourself. It's nice.

You see this attitude even in the way they drive. I'll give you an example. On a two-lane road in Maui, I slowed to let a pickup back onto the road that had pulled over to take on hitch-hikers. (Also common there.)

As I did, the driver's arm shot out the window and I thought, "Oh, jeez, here it comes." When you see a driver's arm come out the window in Michigan, you know you're about to get the
one-finger salute. This driver, however, waggled a thumb and pinkie at me, which is Hawaiian
for "hang loose, brah," meaning, essentially, thank you, brother.

That's how they are. They thank you for letting them in. In return, they let you in. Over and over, I witnessed drivers stopping dead in the middle of the street to let people cross. Horn-honking is
considered quite rude. Cutting people off is, well, it's just not done.

I saw this bumper sticker on cars and in stores all over Hawaii: "Slow down, this isn't the mainland."